Overture Awarded Pseudo-Wire Patents

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Overture Networks, a leading developer of packet-based multiservice access platforms, today announced three new patents in circuit emulation granted by the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office, increasing the total number of patents received by the company in this area to five. The patented technology enables Overture Networks ISG platforms to automatically adjust operational parameters to ensure robust delivery of critical telecom services across unpredictable packet networks.

Carriers are continuing their daily roll out of packet-based technologies in metro edge networks. Yet, even with the increased speed and reduced cost of these packet transmission technologies, there remains a critical need to maintain existing revenue from circuit-based services over the newer infrastructure. To handle these services, Overture Networks has designed multiservice packet access platforms that use pseudo-wire technology to emulate circuit-switched traffic such as voice and private lines over Ethernet and IP links. With these new patents, and the two patents granted earlier this year, the company has protected its current pseudo-wire circuit emulation technology.

U.S. Patent No. 6,741,603, titled “Use of a Circular Buffer to Assure In-Order Delivery of Packets" and U.S. Patent No. 6,757,292, titled “Automatic Adjustment of Buffer Depth for the Correction of Packet Delay Variation” describe processes that Overture Networks uses in its ISG line of products to automatically size the jitter buffer by measuring the dynamic characteristics of a network, thereby minimizing the time it takes for packets to cross the network. By automatically sizing the buffer, carriers are assured of never adding more delay than necessary -- even in the face of network impairments such as packet loss and misordering. With these market-leading designs, the ISG multiservice access platforms are years ahead of competitive products featuring fixed buffers that potentially add excess delay and degrade network performance.

A third patent received by Overture Networks, U.S. Patent No. 6,768,748, titled “Flexible Mapping of Circuits into Packets” covers a method that can be used by carriers to make tradeoffs between circuit emulation parameters in a way that gives them greater flexibility operating their networks. The parameters include network bandwidth, packet rate and capture delay (the time that it takes to build a packet). By manipulating these parameters service providers can optimize their circuit emulation applications.

"With the granting of these patents, Overture Networks has solidified its leadership position in circuit emulation and ultimately multiservice access," said Prayson Pate, Overture Networks vice president of engineering. "The automatic adjustment capabilities reflected in the patents enable tremendous improvements in the way service providers are able to install, provision and operate circuit-based services over any underlying Ethernet, MPLS or IP infrastructure."

Overture Networks Inc.